Chosen Mate of the Beastmen Empire by Lewis Reed

Chapter 405

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The moonlight glowed pure and bright. A sharp clang of gongs ripped through the valley, jolting countless people awake from their dreams. Every barbarian threw on clothes and scrambled up-the young and strong grabbing weapons to

assemble.

"The imperial army's here!"

"Move it! Hurry!"

Nyx stood in the middle of her guards' protective circle, looking around, soaking in the scene.

Between the two peaks was a razor-thin gap. If you stood there and looked up, the sky squeezed into a long, narrow line. sunlight spilling faint, hazy shadows onto the rock walls.

A natural wonder like that-often called a "sliver of sky"-would've been perfect for tourists. Right now, though, it was these barbarians' hideout. She didn't really want to wreck the scenery. If only they'd wise up and surrender.

On the other side of the stone wall they'd piled up, the barbarians seemed to have grouped up and started yelling out- official speech mixed with their own tongue. Nyx perked her ears, catching bits and pieces, piecing it together with some guesswork.

They were basically saying the outsiders could forget about breaking in, stop wasting time, and get lost back where they came from.

"Jon, you're up!" Arlong called out one of his guys-sharp-tongued and fluent in barbarian–who stepped forward to shout back.

perfect for trash-talking, and went straight for the gut. "Hey, barbarians inside-open the gate and surrender quick! Your chief Monka's waiting for you in prison! Know why we

among the barbarians for years. Hearing this, they flew

"He's lying!"

slandering the

"Shut your trap!"

from inside, Jon sneered, "Bunch of

the questioning and spilled everything after a couple rounds! Even screamed that his foster

all into this mess. You could've been living decent lives as honest folk. When push came to shove, he ditched Monka and bolted. A lowlife he is! He's dragging you down too, using

general says if that old

be killed!"

him shifting. He scrambled to steady the troops. "Don't fall for his tricks! This is another one of Erik's scams-trying to con

in you, you'll always be dirt to them! Surrender, and maybe they won't kill you, but you'll be slaves-your kids and grandkids too,

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Chapter 405

they can't touch us! Why else would they waste breath on these tricks

being a free commoner. Even if life in the mountains suckerf, it beat signing your life away on a slave contract. Good masters were one in a million-most slaves got beaten on a whim, sometimes to death, and no

him to surrender quietly dropped the idea, set on holding the

at it. His jabs were sharp and nasty, totally humiliating— pissing off the barbarians inside

faded, dawn crept up, and both sides started feeling the exhaustion. Erik shot a look at the guy, whose voice was starting to crack, signaling him to

whole army. The barbarians hiding in the valley felt their hair stand on end, like a beast had its

the old man snapped back, forcing a cold laugh. "Come in here if